Powerless
by Peter Smith
Summary: The latest in my series of POV stories sees Aaron the ex-Aqua Ranger take the lead. On assignment in the Arctic, Aaron, Teresa and Peter are stranded in Norway for the night, when they run into who else but Dominic and Fran! But as usual for the Rangers, trouble is lurking just out of sight. I hope you enjoy! Reviews welcomed! :)
1. Chapter 1

_Hey beautiful people :). Welcome to 'Powerless', the point-of-view story for Aaron, the first Aqua Ranger. The story of how Aaron lost his powers can be found in 'Divided We Fall'. As for the continuity references (and if you look closely, you'll find references to Ninja Storm and Overdrive as well)... my series doesn't quite follow the show's continuity. Everything still happened, the same way it happened on the show... it's just the timeline is different, with things happening in a different order, and sometimes all at once (with the MMPR team being involved). My advice to budding authors is simple – don't let continuity get in the way of telling a really awesome story. If you've got a great idea – go nuts with it, and have fun. That's the important part._

_The story takes place about 5 years after the events of 'The New Team', which means the Junior Team are all about 16 or so. So they're a bit more mature. And just recently, they survived the MMPR/Zeo jump. Now that I've thoroughly confused everybody... enjoy! _

* * *

**Chapter One**

Becoming a Power Ranger was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

_Losing_ my powers? That one ranks considerably lower.

When I was eleven, I was chosen alongside four of my best friends by an interdimensional sage named Zordon to become a superhero, and battle the forces of evil. I was so excited. But a short time later, my Power Coin was destroyed, and I was left powerless. The team survived, though. To this day, there are still twelve Rangers defending the Earth from all kinds of alien and demonic threats, and they're all pretty good at what they do. In the meantime, Aaron Gee became the ex-Aqua Ranger, and my family moved away. Yeah, that was _not_ a good month.

I think my biggest fear was that my friends would move on and forget about me. I read the newspapers and see them on TV all the time, doing some pretty amazing things. But I should've trusted them. Whenever they're up north visiting Blue Bay Harbour or Springfield, they always stop by to pass on the news. Every six months, my family holidays back down on the coast, and I always look forward to catching up with them, to see what's changed and hear about their latest fleet of giant robots. But trouble seems to follow the Rangers around, and whenever we hang out, I somehow always get swept up into crazy Ranger business.

Like today.

It's late December. Christmas is only a few days away. I'd been spending time with Peter and Teresa, the Orange and White Rangers respectively, when Zordon had called them into action. Pete's the team leader, tall and inspiring, and I think he still feels bad about what happened to me all those years ago. Teresa is fierce and kind, the big sister I never had, and I knew this was her favourite time of the year. The mission was to stop a monster from disrupting the Earth's magnetic north pole, and I'd gone with the Rangers as they'd teleported into the Arctic. But once the day had been saved, we found that our communicators had been fried by stray magnetic pulses, so we headed back towards civilisation and found ourselves in Bodø, a city perched on the windswept coast overlooking the Norwegian Sea.

There was a heavy layer of thick white snow over the city streets, and I turned up my collar to keep out the wind as Peter and Teresa stepped down from the city's railway station and made their way towards me. Waiting on the street, I realised how close the two of them had become, a lot closer than I remembered from my last trip. Maybe they'd finally figured out what the rest of us had known all along?

Teresa nodded to my wrist as they approached. "Communicator still not working?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Zordon did say we'd have trouble this close to the North Pole," I said. "And I'll bet neither the monster nor the snow-storm this morning helped much. What about the trains?"

"The next train south doesn't leave until tomorrow morning," Peter replied. If there was one thing Pete knew, it was trains. I loved him for it. "We missed it by an hour," and he tapped the communicator under his thick orange coat. "By the time we hit Oslo, I think we'll be right. But either way we're stuck here until the morning. No zords and no Command Centre."

"Sounds like a nice holiday," I said.

"So," Teresa began, "how do we kill time in Norway at Christmas?"

"I'm thinking some hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire," Pete replied.

With that, we turned and headed back towards the city centre. Bodø had all the features of a large city, but was actually quite compact. Everything was only a short walk away from everything else, which would definitely help us find a place to stay for the night. It was dark out, and the sky high above was a deep midnight blue. I kept thinking it was later than it was, forgetting that the sun had set this afternoon at about one o'clock. Checking my watch, it was only three thirty. Regardless, the city around us was lit up as its residents shopped, dined and celebrated the holiday. On all sides were families walking together and children holding hands. Thick coats and colourful scarves protected everyone from the cold.

A biting breeze swept in off the ocean as we walked, slicing us to the bone.

"That wind has some kick to it," Teresa said, her teeth chattering.

"We're still north of the Arctic Circle, aren't we?" I asked.

"Before we left, I read that it's usually not that cold in Bodø this time of year," Pete said. "Traditionally at Christmas, it rains more than it snows."

"They must've turned it on just for us," Teresa said.

"It's probably cold to us because we grew up in Australia," I said. I get that snow is a nightmare for people who have to deal with it everyday, but for those of us from the tropics, snow is as much a fantasy as aliens and giant robots, and I've always thought it was the most wonderful thing.

Reaching the main street, we gazed along the rows of glowing neon signs. "I hope you guys didn't forget to pack your universal translators," I said.

"I have so many pockets," Teresa began, indicating her jacket, "I don't think I'd be able to find it even if we did."

Peter smiled, and pointed to a small café a few doors down the road. One side of the menu board was written in English. "I think that'd be a good place to start."

"Good spotting," Teresa said.

"I always come through on the first date," Peter replied. "Second date's on you."

"A second date, eh? That's wishful thinking."

"Always plan ahead."

I stepped between them. "Save it for the mistletoe," I said, and they laughed. Offering my arms, the three of us linked up, and side-by-side, we stepped off the street and into the restaurant.

The café had a modern bar and an espresso machine that looked like it had been designed by NASA, with an eclectic mix of new and old furniture scattered around the room. Full of customers, the restaurant was busy and warm, a wonderful retreat from the wind outside. After we hung our coats by the door, the waitress ushered us over to a pair of worn couches looking out over the street. Paying for our drinks, I returned to Peter and Teresa, finding them curled up together on one of the couches, with Teresa resting her head on Pete's shoulder.

I slid the drinks onto the table and took a sip from mine. It was soft and velvety, and I felt warmth returning to my face and hands.

"Any good?" Pete asked.

"Brilliant," I replied, and turned to Teresa. "I remembered you like extra marshmallows. Honestly, I'd have thought you'd want to get home as soon as possible."

"The others can handle the world-saving for the moment," Teresa said, reaching for her mug. "We get holidays so rarely. Plus this is the closest we're likely to get to a white Christmas. It's nice." But glancing out the window to the crowd of Christmas shoppers, her face fell.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked.

Teresa pointed to a couple of people standing on the street. "Pete, is that who I think it is?" she asked.

We both turned to look. Out on the street were a young man and woman about the same age as the three of us, both rugged up against the cold and carrying large backpacks. Walking side-by-side, their arms and hands were intertwined, the picture of a young couple in love. The woman was wearing so many layers that it looked like if she tripped, she'd roll down the street. She had dark curly hair and thick glasses, with a warm, crooked smile. The man was taller and solidly built. Even through his clothes, I could tell from the way he moved that he was a fighter. Wearing a black coat with a white beanie, he had short blond hair and heavy-set features.

I turned to Pete as recognition flashed across his face. "It is too," he said, and I could hear the excitement in his voice. "That's Dominic and Fran!"

"I'll go get them," Teresa said, and dashed outside.

"Who are Dominic and Fran?" I asked.

"You wouldn't have met them," Pete explained. "Dominic is the White Rhino Ranger. We all fought DaiShi a few months back."

"Oh. Yeah, I heard all about that through the Ranger grape-vine," I said. "It was that Jungle Fury business last year, wasn't it?"

Pete nodded. "Once everything was sorted out, Dominic and Fran left to go backpack around Europe. I guess they're still here."

Outside, we watched as Teresa greeted the two backpackers. They both hugged Teresa excitedly, before following her back into the café. Seeing Pete, Dominic's face lit up, and Pete climbed to his feet to greet them both.

"It's great to see you guys!" Pete said, as everyone squeezed onto the couches.

Fran turned to me. "But who's your friend?"

"This is Aaron, the first Aqua Ranger," Teresa replied.

Dominic's eyes grew wide. "Aaron?" he repeated, then shook my hand. "Whoa. We've heard a lot about you."

"My time as a Ranger was pretty short," I smiled.

"But well-remembered," Dom said.

"So what are you all doing in Norway?" Fran asked.

"We were on a mission," Pete replied. "But being this close to the North Pole is messing with your communicators so we're stuck here until the morning."

"How's everyone back in Ocean Bluff?" Teresa asked.

"We check in a couple of times a week," Dom began. "The pizzeria is doing great. Casey splits his time between helping RJ with the restaurant, and teaching at the academy. Jarrod's lion-style classes are pretty popular, and he and Camille are doing okay too."

"I'm glad that worked out," Peter said.

"Lily and Theo?" Teresa asked.

Fran lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Just taking their time to figure things out," she replied. "But RJ says it's going well."

I couldn't help but glance over to Pete and Teresa with a wry smile. "Sometimes it takes a while," I said. "So how's Europe been treating you?"

"Amazing," Fran grinned. "We started in Istanbul, then made our way west through Italy, Spain and France. There are so many incredible places that I've only ever read about, and now I'm actually seeing them. It's hard to get used to."

"We recently spent a month in England, and then travelled through Scotland and Ireland," Dominic continued. "But we've been working our way north ever since, since I've got family in Moscow and I wanted them to meet Fran." He paused as Fran blushed. "We decided to come west through Finland and Norway, and here we are."

Fran turned to me. "So do you often come with the Rangers when they have to do something crazy and incredible?" she asked.

"Back home I live up north," I said, "so I only get to thwart one or two alien invasions a year. It's terrible. But my family always visits for the holidays, and I was hanging out with Peter and Teresa when Zordon called."

"We weren't gonna leave him behind," Peter added. "And Aaron usually doesn't give us much of a choice."

"It's not like I do anything anyway," I said. "They always leave me holding the fort while they go do all the punching."

Fran nodded. "I know what you mean," she said. "Dom and I stumbled onto a gang of art thieves while we were in Paris."

"What happened?" Teresa asked.

"Dom took care of it," Fran replied.

Dom grinned. "It was my first solo mission. I was so proud."

I saw Fran's face fall and instinctively knew why. But nobody else noticed. "Did anything specific bring you to Bodø?" I asked quickly.

Fran immediately bounced back. "There was a massive rock-slide in a valley just on the other side of Bodø back before the second world war. Half a mountain came down, but nobody knows why. It flattened a whole village, although most everybody escaped."

"I think we're a bit late to help the survivors," I said.

Fran giggled. "No silly. But local archaeologists recently found caves full of Viking weapons and treasures that had been hidden thanks to the avalanche. They're displaying it all in the Nordlands Museum here in Bodø. It thought it would be interesting."

"That does sound cool," Peter said. I had to take a drink of hot chocolate to hide my smile. Always the history student.

Teresa glanced over to the clock above the bar. "We still have time to go check it out. It's only four o'clock."

"I say let's go and make a night of it," I said.

Fran looked around excitedly. "We can go? Great!" and finishing our hot chocolate, we grabbed our scarves and coats, and headed outside.

* * *

In a dark mountain cave high above Bodø, littered with the bones of birds and animals who'd strayed too close, figures darted through the shadows, the light from burning torches flickering off their blue skin.

"My liege! My prince! We've found it!" came an urgent voice.

"You can't be serious."

"Absolutely we are! The eye was dug out of the ground by mortals only a week ago, and…"

"You're only reporting back to me _now_, Melkor?"

"Yes, um, well, we wanted to make sure!"

A third voice echoed out of the shadows. "Oh I'm sure you did."

"Enough insolence, Tomar. Let Melkor speak."

"The eye is in a building called a museum, prince Antimus. It seems to be a place where humans keep old things that have sentimental value. I don't understand it myself."

"This pleases your prince greatly. Tomar, go and tell Chakrin of our discovery! This may even break him from his vow of silence. Tonight we reclaim the eye, and this pathetic world will be ours!"

_To be continued._


	2. Chapter 2

_Jokermask, thanks for the review! Glad to hear from you :). This story will be as short as "Black Forest" (and I know it's nowhere near as exciting as some of the photos that have been popping up online of the upcoming "Super Megaforce" season), but I think you'll like it all the same. Enjoy :)._

* * *

**Chapter Two**

The museum was only a short distance away from the café. As we made our way over, we passed a group of kids having an epic snowball fight in a snow-covered park. The road was icy, though, and as Fran stepped down onto the street, she slipped on the ice. Dom immediately had his arm around her, and he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek as he helped her to her feet.

Fran turned to me as the three Rangers walked on ahead. "I suppose they've all got lots of Ranger business to catch up on," she said.

"He's probably wondering about the whole Zeo thing," I replied. "That took me a while to get my head around."

"At least you started as a Ranger," Fran said. "I'm almost jealous."

"My career as a Ranger wasn't exactly a wild success, trust me."

"Not the way RJ tells it. Still, at least you're actually part of it. Not always sitting by and watching. Do you ever miss it?"

"Sometimes," I nodded. "There are days when I see what they go through, all the injuries they pick up and the weight on their shoulders, and I don't envy them. But then I think, I just want to be there with them, helping them." I met her gaze. "I get the feeling you know what that's like."

Fran offered me a half-smile. "I really do."

As we turned the corner, the museum soon came into view. A two storey yellow building, the Nordlands Museum sat back from the street behind an iron fence and a small snowy yard. Climbing the front steps, we pushed the heavy door open and stepped inside past a dozing security guard. A cheerful curator stood by the front desk, and he welcomed us to the building as we checked our packs and paid admission.

The museum's interior was wide and airy, with a staircase at the back of the main exhibit room leading up to the second floor. Everything relating to the archaeological dig was on the first floor, beside an exhibit on the indigenous Sami people. Just in front of us was a tour group of British and Welsh backpackers, their thick accents giving them away, while already inside were a couple of families with young children. All around were glass cases containing tools, weapons and other Viking artifacts. I saw Pete's face light up.

"Everything's so well preserved," he said, as he and Fran leaned in close to inspect a set of stone hunting knives.

Dominic wandered down to a display case by itself in the corner. "Hey guys," he called. "Check this out."

We followed after him. Inside the case was a beautiful glass sphere. It was slightly smaller than a soccer ball, totally transparent but for the occasional flash of colour when the light hit it at just the right angle. But instead of the usual spectrum of refracted light, the colours inside the sphere were deeper and unearthly, all shimmering violets and cool blues.

"Wow," Fran murmured.

"It's beautiful," Pete added.

"I wonder what it was," I said.

Dominic glanced to the sign on the side of the display. Half of it was printed in English. "The crystal globe was found in the same cave as various other weapons and tools," he read. "The sphere is solid, but quite lightweight. Its surface was found to be surprisingly smooth, even when inspected under a microscope. Its origin and purpose are as yet unknown, but the team who found it called it the crystal eye."

"Talk about a historical mystery," Fran said.

"The Vikings had their gods," Pete said. "We met one once. He was a nice guy, too. Maybe the eye was a religious thing?"

"Or someone else used it and left it in the cave recently?" Teresa suggested.

"Well if you want to be practical about it," Pete replied.

Teresa laughed as she and Dominic stepped over towards the main staircase.

"We're gonna head upstairs," Dominic called back, "and check out what's on the next level…"

Without warning, the lights flickered and switched off. Everyone froze in sudden darkness.

"What's going on?" asked Fran, a few feet away in the dark.

As my eyes adjusted to the shadows, I looked around. Light from a street-light outside was shining in one of the windows, and I could see the curator and security guard standing by what had to have been the power box, flicking switches on and off in vain. Around us, the two families huddled close together, while the tourists whispered quietly amongst themselves. "Maybe they've blown a fuse or something?" I asked aloud.

Standing between Fran and I, Peter looked up to the stairs. "Hey Teresa," he called, "are you getting that weird feeling on the back of your neck?"

Teresa nodded. "I'm starting to," she replied.

Without warning, the front door of the museum was ripped off its hinges and thrown to the ground in a cloud of dust and splinters. Screams filled the air, and the five of us spun around to face the disturbance. Beside me, I noticed that Pete was almost instantly in Ranger mode, his expression hard and fists raised defensively. The transformation was always startling, but I immediately saw why. Four figures stood outside, framed against the light from the buildings across the street. As we watched, they stepped inside.

All four were easily six feet tall, although the figure in the middle was even taller. They wore nothing to protect themselves from the cold other than tunics and loincloths around their waists. Their skin was a deep shade of blue, and they had pointed elfin ears on the sides of their heads. Their eyes were twin pinpoints of light in the dark, but rather than warm, their gazes were cool and distant. One of the figures had two swords at his back with an arsenal of daggers around his belt. A second carried a crossbow, while the third was unarmed but looked to be impossibly strong, with legs like tree-trunks and a thick, solidly-built body. The tallest of the figures was also weaponless, but a thin circle of gold around his head told us that he was likely the group's leader.

The security guard stepped slowly towards the four elves. The muscular elf turned to the tallest figure.

"Be careful prince Antimus," the elf said. "Humans are notoriously treacherous."

Antimus sneered, sweeping his gaze around the room. "Rodents," he spat. "Conquering them would almost be doing them a favour." Stepping forward, he grabbed the security guard and casually flung him across the room, where he smashed into a glass display case and crashed to the ground. The families behind us screamed and cowered back, while Teresa and Dominic sprinted to his aid.

Keeping low, Peter crept forward, but glanced back to see Fran and I following him. "Stay back," he warned.

Ignoring everything else around him, Antimus gazed around the darkened museum. "Where is it?" he asked, and we watched as his eyes fell on the case with the crystal eye. "Tomar," the prince barked. "Fetch it for me!"

The blade-wielder obediently crossed the room, breezing past the terrified tour group. Reaching for one of the daggers at his belt, he smashed the glass, before reaching in and pulling the sphere free. He sliced his hand on a jagged piece of glass, but didn't even flinch. "Anything else, my liege?" Tomar asked, returning to the prince.

Antimus didn't hear the tone in Tomar's voice, and took the eye from him without replying. "Excellent," he murmured. But turning to the door, he froze. Peter was standing in his way, one of the few people in the building capable of meeting the prince's gaze.

"What do you want?" Peter asked.

Antimus held up the eye. "To use this to contact my home world, find the troops still loyal to me and began establishing my rule here," he said, as simply as if he was describing a shopping list.

"If any remain," Tomar murmured darkly. Antimus shot him a glare, and Tomar retreated back behind Melkor.

"We can't let you do that," Pete replied. "Give us the eye."

Antimus sighed in irritation. "How tedious. Chakrin, kill him."

Behind him, the elf with the crossbow raised the weapon at Peter and fired. The arrow flashed through the air, but I grabbed Pete and dragged him to the ground as the arrow whizzed past and embedded into the wall.

Pete glanced to me, and let out the breath caught in his throat. "Thanks," he said.

Reaching the door, the elf prince looked back into the building. "The last thing we want is an audience," he said, and turned again to the archer. "Chakrin, keep them busy."

The archer reached into his quiver and pulled free an arrow wrapped in cloth. I wondered for a second what he was about to do, but as the elf unwrapped the arrow, it started smouldering. Without a second thought, he loaded the arrow into his crossbow, took aim at the wall behind the front desk and fired. There was an explosion of sparks and fire that threw everyone to the ground. Picking myself up, I looked back to the door, but the four elves had disappeared into the night, taking the crystal eye with them.

Climbing to his feet, Peter glanced around the room. The fire was rapidly consuming the wall and desk, filling the room with toxic black smoke.

"Teresa? Dom?" he called.

"We got him!" came Teresa' s voice. Pete turned to see them carrying the injured guard out to the front of the building, with his arms resting on their shoulders.

I turned to Pete. "I'll deal with the fire. I saw an extinguisher before."

"Great," Peter replied. "Fran and I will get everybody outside."

Peter raced over towards the curator and backpackers, while I saw Fran run back through the room for the two families in the corner. Before long, Fran and the Rangers had ushered everybody outside. Tearing over to the stairwell, I reached for the red fire extinguisher I'd seen before. Pulling it free, I aimed it for the fire. The fire hadn't had much time to take hold, and I doused it down to nothing in a minute. Leaving the extinguisher on the ground, I raced outside after my friends.

The families, tourists and museum staff were all huddled together on the snowy street, being comforted by residents of the neighbouring buildings. Sirens in the distance were rapidly closing in. Good. That meant help was on the way. I soon spotted the others, standing in the shadows of a vacant lot across the street, and immediately jogged over.

"Everyone okay?" I asked.

Peter nodded. "Fran and I got everyone outside."

"The guard was bleeding pretty badly," Dom said, "but I think he'll survive," and he nodded to the ambulances just rolling up.

"What about the fire?" Teresa asked.

"I got it out," I replied. "There wasn't much damage to any of the exhibits," and I turned to Fran. "You learn how to use a fire extinguisher pretty early on, doing this."

Fran nodded, looking slightly frazzled. "Um, that's good to know."

"What about the medieval fair wannabes?" Dom asked.

"They looked like elves," I said. "They called the tall guy in the middle their prince. Antimus, or something."

"They came for the crystal eye," Pete said. "When he spoke to me, the prince said something about contacting his home world and finding loyal troops."

"So we're looking at an extradimensional incursion?" Fran asked.

Everyone froze, and Teresa turned to Fran, impressed. "I think you're right," Teresa said. "I'm guessing this'll be just up to us?"

Peter raised his communicator. But tapping the top button, there was still nothing but static. "Pretty much," he said. "I still can't contact Zordon."

"We need to stop those elves," Dominic said. "But we don't know the hows or wheres. What do we do?"

"We find out," Fran said. Without another word, she turned around and began marching determinedly back towards the city.

_To be continued._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for reading everyone! Here we come to the butt-kicking chapter :). Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"Fran, wait up!" Dominic cried as we chased after her.

"What are you looking for?" Teresa asked.

Reaching the main street, Fran glanced down the road. "A smaller shop," she replied. "Something local. The larger chains will be no good for what we want."

"Is it really a good time to be finishing your Christmas shopping?" Dom asked.

Fran smiled, and turned back to us. "We need books," she replied. "Those elves must've been here a while, right? Even if they stayed out of sight, they must've needed food and water. Someone somewhere must have seen them. I'd bet a lot that they've been here long enough for stories and legends to enter popular folklore. I think the town's public library will be shut by now, but…" and her voice trailed off as she spotted what she was looking for. "There!"

A few doors down the street, a small book shop sat between a restaurant and shadowy office building. We raced down the street towards it. The owner was a stern-faced woman with her hair pulled into a tight bun, and she looked like she was just shutting for the day. She turned to us as we approached, and I saw her frown.

"Please, can we come in?" Fran asked, hoping the lady spoke English. "I know it's late, and we're sorry to impose…"

"…but it's urgent," Peter said simply.

The shopkeeper glanced from Fran to Peter, and nodded. "Come in," she said, with a small smile. "What do you need?"

"Books on local legends and myths," Fran replied. "Not necessarily Norse mythology. We're looking for local stories and regional fairy tales."

The shopkeeper took us down between narrow aisles of books to the back corner of the shop. She pointed to the shelf closest to the ground.

"Thank you," Teresa said. "We won't be long, we promise."

As the lady stepped away, Fran reached down and began handing us books. "You're looking for tales of a blue-skinned elf prince," she began, and we all began settling in with our backs against the shelves, flipping through volume after volume.

I glanced over to Pete. "Maybe those elves come from the land of the gargoyles?"

"Could be," Peter nodded. "We'll have to ask Culdee and Archimedes the next time we visit Gargoyle Castle."

We'd only been there a couple of minutes when Fran's eyes grew wide. Of course she'd found it first. By that point, I wasn't even surprised. "Got it!" she shouted. Even the shopkeeper turned to her, and we all scooted over to join her. "There's an old fairy tale here," she began, pointing to a passage in the book before her. "It tells the story of an elf prince from a faraway world. The prince was vain, petty and cruel. Pursued by his own family for his wicked deeds, the prince stole a magical totem, an all-powerful eye, to escape to another world. This one."

"That sounds like our guy," Teresa said. "Their arrival probably caused the rock-slide, and that's how they lost the eye in the first place. They would've been hiding in the mountains looking for it ever since."

"And now the prince has it back," Pete finished, "he can reopen the portal and start a new reign of terror here."

"There's an unhappy Christmas morning," Dominic said.

"Okay," I said. "We just need to figure out where he's going."

Fran climbed to her feet and reached for a book of maps of the local area. As she opened it to a map of Bodø, the shopkeeper wandered back over, curious as to what we were doing.

"Right," Peter said. "The prince will be performing some archaic magical ritual. He'll need somewhere large."

"But if he's been waiting to do this for seventy years, he'll be impatient," Teresa added. "It'll be somewhere close, but somewhere they won't be interrupted."

Running my eyes over the terrain surrounding the city, my gaze fell on an old building just outside of town. "What's that?" I asked.

"Oh that?" the shop owner said, standing behind us. "That's an empty library. It was abandoned many years ago when the new library was built. But it's still there."

Peter nodded. "That's the place. C'mon," and as Fran grabbed the book of fairytales, everyone got up, thanked the shopkeeper and ran outside. Fran stopped by the counter to pay for the book, and I waited back for her. The five of us soon regrouped out on the street.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"Once the portal's open, we throw the prince and his friends back in," Peter replied.

"We'll have to get the eye away from him first," Teresa said. "Otherwise he'll just take it with him and try again."

"Or else go somewhere with no Rangers there to stop him," Fran added.

Dominic glanced to Fran and I. "I think we should take it from here," he said.

"No," I said, knowing exactly what was about to happen. "We're coming too."

"Dom's right," Teresa said. "We don't know what we're walking into here. If there's a brawl, we won't be able to fight the elves and keep the two of you safe."

Peter saw the look forming on my face, and rested a hand on my shoulder. "I don't want you to get hurt," he said softly. He didn't add "again", but I heard it in his voice. "It'll be safer here. We'll be back soon, I promise." With that, the three Rangers raced away, and Fran and I were left standing there watching them leave.

"They do that to you too, huh?" Fran asked.

I grimaced. "All the damn time."

"I suppose there's not much we can do," Fran shrugged, and turned back to the book to keep reading. "Uh-oh," she said suddenly, and I saw her expression fall.

"What?"

"We've got a problem," she replied quickly. "According to this, the eye is enchanted. If you were already possessing great power, you couldn't touch or approach it. It was meant to protect the eye from powerful wizards and mages…"

"…and probably Power Rangers as well," I said. "Damn it. They're not gonna be able to get it away from Antimus. Okay, we don't have a choice anymore. We have to catch them."

Fran smiled. "Now you're talking my language," she said, and we ran off after them.

* * *

Following the streets out of Bodø, Peter, Teresa and Dominic left the city behind them and soon found the abandoned library in a quiet valley protected from view by a small ridge. Approaching as close as they could, the three Rangers cut across country, keeping to the shadows and climbing the hill. The landscape was frozen and windswept, with just enough cover for them to reach the top without being seen. Down below, the building sat behind a paved carpark and surrounded by a short stone fence. Without the howling wind, the landscape was eerily quiet.

"This is the place," Dominic said. The library appeared mostly intact, aside from some graffiti and a few smashed windows.

"It's large enough," Peter added. "Definitely looks deserted, but I don't see…"

"There!" Teresa said. They turned to see where she was pointing and immediately spotted strange blue lights flickering in one of the windows. Shadowy figures were visible inside.

Peter nodded. "Okay guys, let's go. It's morphin' time!"

"Jungle beast, spirit unleashed!"

"Zeo Ranger six, white!"

"Zeo Ranger ten, orange!"

Morphing in three bright flashes of light that lit up the countryside, the Rangers raced down towards the building, moving rapidly over the frozen hillside. Vaulting over the fence, they could hear sounds of surprise from inside the building, but by now it was too late. Reaching the carpark, Teresa took to the air, leaping towards the front doors and kicking them open. They slammed back against the wall as Teresa dropped to the ground inside, with Peter and Dominic stepping in to join her a second later. As their eyes adjusted to the shadows, they saw a line of elves standing between them and the prince.

Antimus's eyes grew wide at the three Rangers facing him. "Well," he said, and they heard the surprise in his voice. "This is new."

"We're here to stop you," Dominic said.

"Go back to your own world," Teresa began. "We will not let you threaten this one."

Antimus sneered. "Let me?" he repeated. "_Let me?!_ Do you have any idea who you're up against?"

Peter smiled grimly behind his helmet. "Do you?"

Reaching back, Tomar pulled free his twin curved blades, while beside him, Melkor raised his fists and Chakrin loaded an arrow into his crossbow. "Stay back, my liege," Melkor warned. "These ingrates wish you harm."

"Then _kill them_!" Antimus cried.

Obeying his prince, Melkor charged forward, crashing into Dominic and tackling him into the next room. Raising his blades, Tomar skulked towards Peter, while Chakrin aimed his bow at Teresa and fired.

Teresa stepped around the arrow as it whistled past her. Chakrin froze, surprised. Rallying quickly, he raced back and leaped up towards the ceiling. Grabbing one of the rafters with his free hand, he swung himself up and spun back to the White Ranger. But Teresa had already jumped up into the rafters after him, and grabbing a beam to steady herself, she kicked high. Chakrin dodged the move and retreated to safety, forcing Teresa to clamber after him. While she was climbing, Chakrin pulled a pair of arrows from his quiver and fired them. Teresa heard the bow and struck the arrows out of the air, one after the other. Before Chakrin could fire again, Teresa closed the distance between them. Grabbing for the crossbow, she wrenched it out of his hands and struck him in the face with it, sending him crashing back to the floor.

Back on the ground, Peter held out his hand as Tomar closed in.

"Power Sword!" he cried, and the weapon appeared in a flash of light. Tomar frowned and charged forward, slicing both his blades for Peter's head. Peter raised his sword and blocked them in a shower of sparks, striking them away before a wide slice forced Tomar to retreat. The elf growled and aimed low. Pete jumped back and over the blade, and when Tomar swung high, Pete blocked the sword and landed a stinging blow to Tomar's wrist, sending the first sword skittering along the ground. Wounded, Tomar lashed out desperately. Peter ducked a wild slice, striking away another swing and parrying a third, before leaping forward with a high kick. Tomar quickly backed away, slashing forward as Peter landed. The Orange Ranger stepped around the blade, smashing his elbow into Tomar's head before striking the elf's arm. The second blade fell to the ground and Peter kicked it away, before slamming his boot into Tomar's chest, launching the elf back into the wall.

A few metres away in the aisles of shadowy book shelves, Dominic and Melkor had rolled to the ground in a mad tangle and scrambled to their feet. Recovering first, Melkor swung a powerful roundhouse punch for his opponent. Dominic barely dodged the blow, blocking a second before striking back. Melkor danced out of range impossibly fast, and taking to the air, he fell towards Dominic with a huge fist raised. Dom scrambled out of the way as Melkor landed with a crash, leaving an impact crater in the floor with his fist. Hanging back, Dom looked for any way to gain the advantage, realising that brute strength wouldn't be enough. But as Melkor lashed out again, Dom noticed the elf was leaving himself unguarded. Catching Melkor's fist, Dom took the air from his opponent with a powerful blow to the stomach, before a jump-kick sent him flying. Melkor crashed into a shelf, dazed from the assault, and Dom raced forward to continue the battle.

As the empty library came alive with the sounds of combat, Antimus stepped back towards the centre of the building, where a wide table sat covered in candles and magical talismans. In the centre rested the crystal eye, glowing brightly in the shadows. It was time. Closing his eyes, Antimus began chanting magical spells under his breath. He was soon rewarded, as the air by the far wall began to ripple, and a shimmering portal opened before him, filling the library with unearthly blue light. The prince smiled triumphantly. He'd done it! If those worthless fools could just keep the heroes at bay, then he'd…

"Not so fast!" I shouted.

Antimus spun around to see Fran and I standing before him. "You can't stop me," he said, cold fury in his voice. "Your friends haven't realised it yet, have they? If you possess power then you can't come near the eye!"

"We have no powers," I said, and the prince's face fell. "So we can do whatever we like."

Antimus roared and charged forward. Fran dived to safety as he lashed out for her, before turning to me and swinging high. I ducked the blow and threw all my strength into a wild punch. The prince's head snapped sideways, but he recovered quickly and raked his claws back towards me. I dived around the blow, and while he was off-balance, I kicked high. He spun out of the way, blocking the move and landing a rapid punch to my shoulder. I staggered back, and before I could defend myself he wrapped his hand around my throat and slammed me against a bookshelf. I couldn't breathe, and fought in vain to free myself. But his fist was like a vice, and he leaned in close.

"You're pathetic," Antimus said. I could feel his cool breath on my face. "How do you possibly plan on stopping me?"

"With books," I gasped.

The prince's grip slackened, and he laughed. "That's your grand plan?" he said, his words dripping with contempt. "You're going to counter your friends' power by _reading_? All the knowledge in the world won't save you!"

"You're not listening," I said. "We're gonna stop you _with books_. Do it!"

Behind us, Fran shoved the nearest bookshelf with all her might. The wood was rotten, and in half a second, the shelf came thundering down in an avalanche of old books, landing on the table and smashing it to pieces. Candles and talismans went flying, and the eye fell to the ground and rolled away into the shadows. The portal flickered and almost instantly began to shrink.

The prince threw me to the ground. "No!" he screamed, purple with rage. "What have you done?"

But as the prince closed in, Fran charged forward with a thick book held high, smashing it into the prince's head and breaking his nose with an audible 'crack'. The prince staggered back, clutching at his face.

"You know the thing about Christmas?" I said, picking myself up. "You're supposed to spend it with your family." Charging forward, I threw a haymaker straight for the prince's chin. He staggered back even further, and now he was only a metre out from the vortex, I slammed my foot into his chest, launching him off his feet and back through the portal. He fell through it with a scream, and vanished into the swirling blue light.

"Antimus!" came Melkor's voice. He'd seen the prince disappear out of the corner of his eye and immediately abandoned the fight with Dominic. Racing past us, he dived into the rift after Antimus. The portal was only a few feet wide now and rapidly closing.

"Guys!" I shouted. "The portal's closing! Hurry up!"

Shocked for a second to see Fran and I, Peter and Teresa glanced to their unconscious opponents and quickly dragged them to the centre of the room, throwing them in after Melkor and the prince. They made it just in time. Seconds later, there was a rumble like faraway thunder, and the portal shrunk down to nothing and faded away.

Everyone collapsed onto the floor, resting our backs against the shelves.

Peter glanced around. "The elves are all gone," he panted. "Good work guys."

I nodded. "We did it."

_To be concluded._


	4. Chapter 4

_Jokermask - I know, right? I wasn't excited for SuperMegaforce at all, until the photos started popping up online, and then I was all, okay, this could be brilliant. I loved the shot of Mike wearing Tommy's Dragon Shield, I thought that was so cool. And it gave me a great idea, heh. Anyway, last chapter here for 'Powerless'. Thanks for reading everybody! :)_

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Fran and I carefully rested the crystal eye on top of the stone fence that surrounded the library. Once it was sitting there, we stepped over to where the two White and one Orange Rangers were standing, the snow on the ground crunching beneath our feet.

"Dom, you're up," said Fran.

"Rhino Blade!" Dom shouted. Holding out his hand, the red and white Rhino Blade appeared in a flash of light. Checking we were clear, he raised the blade and slashed it towards the eye. Power exploded from the slice, arcing across the snowy field and smashing into the eye in blaze of light, shattering it into a thousand pieces. With that, the three Rangers demorphed, and the silence of the Norwegian night fell again. It wasn't as cold, here. The valley was protected from the wind. And for the moment, the five of us were alone but for the distant stars and the cool night air.

"Good job guys," Pete said. "That goes to all of us," and he turned to me. "You and Fran stopped a crazy elf prince without any powers. That was kind of awesome."

"Thanks, but that's the thing," I said. "For you guys, being powerless means not having invulnerable suits or giant robots or powerful weapons. And look, it's a good thing you want to keep us safe. But for people like Fran and I? Being powerless is having to sit on the sidelines and watch, unable to do anything or help out when things get bad."

Fran looked to Dominic. "Yeah, you know, we have as much at stake in saving the world as you do," she said. "We live here too."

The Rangers lowered their gazes, suddenly very interested in the ground. I noticed Pete blushing redly. "We're sorry," Teresa said softly.

"Yeah, I mean, we couldn't have done that without you," Dom said earnestly.

Fran glanced to me and smiled. "Well, we forgive you," she said. "But only 'cause it's Christmas," and she kissed Dom on the cheek.

Pete wrapped his arms around me for a brief hug before stepping back. "So are we okay?" he asked.

"Of course we are," I said. We all turned to climb the hill, and Bodø was soon spread out before us, twinkling in the night. But just as we started back towards the city, tiny flakes of snow began falling around us. Fran laughed in wonder, while Teresa and Peter stepped closer together.

"We still have the night to kill in Bodø," Dom said.

"And pick up all our packs from the museum," Teresa added. "I think we'll have to talk quickly there."

Fran looked around. "Do this again next year?"

"Not on your life," Pete laughed.

"Yeah, you're spending next Christmas with _us_," I said.

"Deal," Dom smiled.

I guess I figured out, that night, that for all the incredible things we've seen and done, I don't think any of us can really deal with being powerless. But I think my friends figured out that, as long as we're standing together, we're not.

My name is Aaron Gee. I was the first Aqua Ranger.

And powers or not, my friends and I are still pretty damn good at saving the world.

_The End._


End file.
